People Should Think Before Picking Up The Pen

It has long been noted, from astute deduction, that in order to form an opinion of something, you must have knowledge of the subject, and the substance of it as well.

This goes to the adage: "There is no substitute for experience." This will, of course, relegate a considerable number of letters to the "Mail Call" column, to the tubular repository.

When the writers first reflect on their own knowledge, training and skill, it will be a more serious and thoughtful matter to take pen in hand, and commit to paper and the public, the sum of their intellect or the lack of it.

According to one of the best history teachers on record, Arthur Schlesinger, Sr.: American History is singularly poor in ideas, deficient in political theory, in philosophical system, and in abstraction of all sorts. He insisted that American history is singularly poor in fact. It swings in regular cycles of 16 years, from hope to fear, from liberalism to conservatism. He concluded that Americans have not been governed by political theory, but purely by "opportunism."

From this knowledge, and 50 years of world travel, I'm not surprised at the accuracy of the practitioner, considering all of the afore noted.